Auxiliary hook stay

ABSTRACT

Auxiliary stays for a sail boat and means of mounting same on the mast, in which a stay bracket is provided at the top of the mast. Said stay bracket supporting a pulley over which a halyard is extended from the deck over the pulley and back to the deck. A stay pin being mounted in said bracket but positioned below the halyard pulley. Said auxiliary stay having a hook affixed to one end of the stay line. The auxiliary stay mounted by affixing the upper end of the hook to the extended end of the halyard and by pulling the opposite end of the halyard, the hook and stay may be raised until the hook abuts with the mast bracket, the hook riding over the stay pin and by a slight release of the stay line, the hook engages the stay pin and the auxiliary stay is engaged and may be used to put tension or pulling force on the mast. The direction of pull being chosen initially as fore, aft, port or starboard.

United States Patent 1 91 Banks, Jr.

1 1 Mar. 27, 1973 AUXILIARY HOOK STAY [76] Inventor: William L. Banks, Jr., 226 Warner Avenue, Roslyn Heights, NY. 11577 22 Filed: Sept. 21,1971

21 Appl.No.: 182,425

{52] U.S.Cl. ..114/102 51 Int. Cl. ..B63h 9/04 58 Field of Search ..114/102,1os,109, 114, 115, 1 14/39; 294/75 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,040,690 6/ 1962 Harless ..1 14/108 Primary Examiner-Milton Buchler Assistant Examiner-Stuart M. Goldstein Attorney-Howard T. Jeandron 1 1 ABSTRACT Auxiliary stays for a sail boat and means of mounting same on the mast, in which a stay bracket is provided at the top of the mast. Said stay bracket supporting a pulley over which a halyard is extended from the deck over the pulley and back to the deck. A stay pin being mounted in said bracket but positioned below the halyard pulley. Said auxiliary stay having a hook affixed to one end of the stay line. The auxiliary stay mounted by affixing the upper end of the hook to the extended end of the halyard and by pulling the opposite end of the halyard, the hook and stay may be raised until the hook abuts with the mast bracket, the hook riding over the stay pin and by a slight release of the stay line, the hook engages the stay pin and the auxiliary stay is engaged and may be used to put tension or pulling force on the mast. The direction of pull being chosen initially asfore, aft, port or starboard.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHARZYISB INVENTOR. WILLIAM L. m/wr: Jx.

AUXILIARY HOOK STAY This invention relates to an auxiliary hook stay for sailboats and the method of installing when needed and removing when not needed.

Sailboats are traditionally constructed with a mast that is long and slender. The mast would be useless without stays attached to the mast head and extending to the deck. The stays are a rope or cable used as a brace or support for the mast, therefore they are forward and aft of the mast, also starboard and port of the mast. The stays are the traditional permanent installation on a mast and therefore the main support to retain the mast erect and provide the strength to retain the mast in a desired erect position that is permanent. To remove a stay a man must go aloft on the mast. The sails may be swingable to many positions about the mast and in sailing they produce considerable stress or pulling upon the stays. When a boat is under full sail, in a good wind, some boats carry additional emergency or storm stays. These are used to prevent oscillation or buckling when reefed. Mast rigs require that fore and aft stays go to the top of the mast thus leaving the length of the mast to the deck unstayed (fore and aft). With rodluff reefing and furling, the greatest failure of stays is at the deck due to torsional stresses. When a stay fails, the sail may blow aloft out of control. This requires a man to climb the mast to release a pinto drop the sail to the deck (this usually occurs in heavy weather). In the meantime, the boat is unmanageable as the helmsman has little or no control. In view of the many variations of sails being used today and in view of the greater stresses created, it is important to be able to provide additional stays to resist the additional forces created. Thus additional sails may be set flying with a low luff, curve, etc., and theadditional stay will provide the additional restriction or retention of the mast as desired. It is also important that the stays be considered auxiliary, useable for certain conditions and easily removable to prevent cluttering and noise about the mast. The auxiliary stay becomes most important in the event of an emergency, for example, when a storm snaps the regular stay or if the mast is oscillating or buckling, the auxiliary stay may be hoisted and provide the necessary additional support to correct the undesirable condition. In rodluff reefing, the sail may blow aloft out of control and this requires a man to climb the mast to release same as with the sail aloft the boat is usually unmanageable. Therefore if a hook stay is utilized, the sail that blows aloft can be quickly lowered and a replacement sent aloft and positioned properly.

It is an object of this invention to provide an auxiliary stay and a method of raising the auxiliary stay into engagement with the top of the mast of a sailboat without sending a man aloft.

It is a further object of this invention to provide additional stays that may be hoisted with a halyard to be attached to the mast at the upper end or adjacent the top and affixed to the shroud or stay bracket and thus replace a broken stay.

A further object of this invention is to provide a replaceable stay for a sailboat mast in which the shroud or stay bracket on the mast is provided with an attaching pin positioned below the halyard pulley so that when the halyard is attached to the hook end of the stay, the stay may be pulled up to the shroud or stay bracket and the hook end positioned over the attaching pin and the tension on the halyard released dropping the hook in locking engagement with the pin thus providing the additional desired stay.

Further objects of this invention shall be apparent by reference to the accompanying detailed description and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a sailboat mast with a shroud or stay bracket and the halyard attached to an auxiliary stay,

FIG. 2 illustrates a similar view to FIG. 1 with the stay raised to an engaging position with the shroud or stay bracket, and

FIG. 3 illustrates a side elevational view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings there is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 a sailboat mast 10 that is provided with a shroud or stay bracket 11, the bracket 11 supporting a sheave or pulley 12 and a halyard 14 extending from the deck up and over the sheave 12 and passing downward to the deck. The auxiliary stay is a rope or cable 15 with a yoke shaped end 16 affixed to the cable 15. The yoke shaped end is provided with a pin 17 and a pivotal hook element 18 mounted within the yoke and provided with an aperture through which the pin 17 may pass. Thus element 18 is pivotally retained. The hookshaped end 18 is provided with a bore 19 at its upper end through which the halyard 14 may be passed and knotted or jambed so that the halyard cannot be pulled out of hook 18. Thus when the halyard is pulled to raise the stay 15, the hook portion 18 will move upward until the hook end 18A abuts with a pin 20 mounted in the shroud or stay bracket, pin 20 being in a horizontal position from one side to the other side of the bracket as illustrated in FIG. 3. When the edge 18A of the hook abuts with element 20, it will slidably pass over element 20 as it is raised. When the hook end 188 is above element 20, the hook will move inward toward the mast and may be dropped over element 20 to engage element 20 and the halyard 14 slightly released to allow the hook to be seated in engagement with 20. Thus the stay 15 is anchored to the shroud or stay bracket and provides an auxiliary stay when needed. It is quite simple to remove the stay when it is not needed without sending a man aloft. The shroud may be again pulled to lift the hook 18 above element 20 and the lower end of the stay 15 pulled outward and the halyard gradually released to lower the hook until the stay reaches the deck where it may be released from the halyard 14.

Although we have shown the auxiliary stay as mountable on one side of the mast, it is apparent that it may be mounted on port, starboard, fore or aft as desired. And although we have shown a particular style end hook for the stay, the configuration of the end may be changed as long as the method of raising the auxiliary stay into engagement with the shroud or stay bracket .is provided without departing from the spirit of this invention.

The invention described in detail in theforegoing specification is subject to changes and modifications without departing from the principle and spirit thereof. The terminology used is for purposes of description and not of limitation; the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An auxiliary stay for a sailboat mast that may be raised into engagement with the top of the mast of the sailboat in an emergency, said auxiliary stay including a stay line with a hook at one end, mounting means for affixing said stay to the top of the mast including a halyard and a halyard bracket, said halyard bracket provided as two separated plates attached to the top of the mast with a pulley mounted between said plates to support said halyard and a fixed pin mounted between said plates and positioned directly under said pulley, said halyard providing the means to lift said stay into position by affixing said halyard line to the top of the hook on said stay line and raising said hook and line with said halyard until said hook abuts said pin and is guided between said plates of said halyard bracket to position said hook over said fixed pin, then slightly releasing said halyard line to allow said hook to drop and engage said fixed pin thus providing an auxiliary stay affixed at the top of the mast to be used in a fore, aft, starboard or port direction as chosen.

2. An auxiliary stay for a pole that may be raised into engagement with the top of said pole in an emergency, said auxiliary stay including a stay line with a hook at one end, mounting means for affixing said stay to the top of the pole including an additional line and a bracket, said bracket provided as two separated plates attached to the top of the pole, said bracket provided with a pulley mounted between said plates to support said additional line and a fixed pin mounted between said plates and positioned directly under said pulley, said additional line passed over said pulley and both ends retained at the base of said pole, means to attach one end of said additional line to said hook of said stay line and raise said hook to abut with said fixed pin in said bracket and be positioned over said fixed pin and allow said hook to drop and engage said fixed pin thus providing an auxiliary stay affixed at the top of the pole to be used. 1 

1. AN auxiliary stay for a sailboat mast that may be raised into engagement with the top of the mast of the sailboat in an emergency, said auxiliary stay including a stay line with a hook at one end, mounting means for affixing said stay to the top of the mast including a halyard and a halyard bracket, said halyard bracket provided as two separated plates attached to the top of the mast with a pulley mounted between said plates to support said halyard and a fixed pin mounted between said plates and positioned directly under said pulley, said halyard providing the means to lift said stay into position by affixing said halyard line to the top of the hook on said stay line and raising said hook and line with said halyard until said hook abuts said pin and is guided between said plates of said halyard bracket to position said hook over said fixed pin, then slightly releasing said halyard line to allow said hook to drop and engage said fixed pin thus providing an auxiliary stay affixed at the top of the mast to be used in a fore, aft, starboard or port direction as chosen.
 2. An auxiliary stay for a pole that may be raised into engagement with the top of said pole in an emergency, said auxiliary stay including a stay line with a hook at one end, mounting means for affixing said stay to the top of the pole including an additional line and a bracket, said bracket provided as two separated plates attached to the top of the pole, said bracket provided with a pulley mounted between said plates to support said additional line and a fixed pin mounted between said plates and positioned directly under said pulley, said additional line passed over said pulley and both ends retained at the base of said pole, means to attach one end of said additional line to said hook of said stay line and raise said hook to abut with said fixed pin in said bracket and be positioned over said fixed pin and allow said hook to drop and engage said fixed pin thus providing an auxiliary stay affixed at the top of the pole to be used. 